Barnetimen (Children’s Hour) continues at Vesterheim!

Vesterheim welcomes preschoolers and their caregivers to Barnetimen. Connect with Jennifer Kovarik, Vesterheim’s Collection Manager, to explore objects in the museum’s collection and make art inspired by those objects. This free, monthly program for preschoolers and their caregivers encourages exploration and creativity.

Barnetimen meets in the lobby of the museum’s Main Building on the third Tuesday of the month, September through April, from 10:00-11:00 a.m. It is geared toward 3-5 year olds, but all ages are welcome. No reservations are needed, but larger groups of 10 or more are asked to contact the museum the day before the program to help with planning.

Barnetimen Themes 2023-24
September 19, 2023 – Animals
October 17, 2023 – Northern Lights
November 21, 2023 – Embellishment
December 19, 2023 – Holidays
January 16, 2024 – Birthdays
February 20, 2024 – Hearts
March 19, 2024 – Farms
April 16, 2024 – Flowers

Enjoy some previous online Barnetimen (Children’s Hour) programs on Vesteheim’s YouTube channel!

For information about Barnetimen, please contact Jennifer Kovarik, Vesterheim Collection Manager, 563-382-9681, jkovarik@vesterheim.org.

Barnetimen is supported by generous gifts to the Vesterheim Annual Fund from David and Brenda Carlson and Jim Clarke at Norwegian Mutual Insurance Association.

Vesterheim’s Pioneer Immersion Program is an innovative cooperative effort between the museum and area schools.

The Pioneer Immersion Program uses the Norwegian-American experience as a jumping-off point for exploring the experiences of other immigrant groups during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Students use artifacts, archival materials, and hands-on activities to gain a better understanding of what it meant for immigrants to journey from their homelands and establish new lives in America in the past and how that experience compares to those of immigrants today.

The program includes instruction in the school classrooms and a series of Vesterheim visits in which students explore the museum and participate in several pioneer activities.

The Pioneer Immersion Program is the optimal blend of object-based learning, national education standards, local curricula, and fun. The teachers and museum staff begin with the common goal of providing student-centered activities, and the result has been positive and engaging concrete experiences that facilitate critical thinking and creativity.

The WOW Program, which developed in partnership between Vesterheim and the Decorah Community Schools, helps students understand change over time through the exploration of historic agricultural tools and processes. The program features intergenerational hands-on activities and discovery.

Area third graders and their parent or grandparent guests use nineteenth-century agricultural technology and machinery to press apples, make rope, shell corn, and hand-thresh grain. They also learn about Decorah’s past through study of historic photographs and hunt to find tools in the museum’s Painter-Bernatz Mill.

For more information about the program, please contact Jennifer Kovarik, Vesterheim Youth Educator, 563-382-9681 ext. 219, jkovarik@vestehriem.org